Ghosting comes to Ghana. Unfortunately.

All in all, the last year has been an interesting one, a busy one and a largely rewarding one (especially for the clients I've satisfied and the candidates I've helped into new careers). But it has also been a frustrating one.

The last thing I want is an easy life (well, that's not entirely true, lol), and running any kind of business presents its challenges and headaches. The sector I work in, which essentially is service-based, is dependent to a large degree on the marketing and promotion of my services. I specifically aim those services at companies and organisations that can best benefit from them. Therefore, it will be no surprise to anyone reading this that much of my time involves reaching out to people in HR, hiring managers and CEOs of businesses that are established, progressive and responsible employers.

My objective is simple, it's transparent, genuine and unintrusive: To make them aware that I am here, what I do, how I can help and to offer a meeting with them to explain my services personally. And since the services I offer are largely unknown and new to Ghana, I feel it's of enormous potential benefit for those I approach to take advantage of a meeting with to me. I provide an essential service, I'm friendly (I think!), I'm a professional in my space, and I can help most companies by acquiring the highly qualified and experienced key personnel they need.

Consequently, I meet a great many people - and many of them are indeed great! I love meeting them. I love getting to know them, to understand their company, its culture and history, its aims and plans, their workforce expansion challenges versus their requirements with regard to finding new executive talent, and how I can provide that talent, which they rely on to excel, grow and improve their output.

Following a meeting with a prospective new client, and during which I understand their needs and agree a good way forward for them, I return to my base and immediately get to work on creating a detailed email confirming our discussions, providing a comprehensive introduction of my services and outlining my proposal. I then tailor an Agreement according to my Terms of Service and conclude by requesting they sign and return it together with relevant details of the role they need filling which, during the meeting, they went to great efforts to explain and agree to.

With me so far? It's not rocket science and in fact is identical to how any other service provider, everywhere in the world, has been operating since the Stone Age!

However, this is where I have discovered a worrying undercurrent within the business community here and it is really quite shocking - and disappointing.

Ghosting has arrived in Ghana!

Originally a term that referred to dating, the repugnant and puerile practice of ghosting has now integrated itself into the world of business.

Previously the domain only of America and my own native Britain, ghosting has become an almost viral-like contagion which is worryingly common, normal and even socially acceptable - and now is being exported to nations like Ghana that hitherto have been inoculated against such a damaging and unprofessional infection.

And ultimately that is what ghosting is: Unprofessional. It's also pointless. And childish. And cowardly. And rude!

Yet when I look back over the last 12 months, there is now so much evidence of ghosting here that I feel obligated to speak out. With no exaggeration, the amount of meetings I have had (all of them positive, all of them friendly, all of them constructive) that after submitting my email, comments and Agreement etc result in a resounding silence is staggering! It's astonishing, and unacceptable. It is engendering a spirit of distrust across the business community here, and is causing a gradual (and noticeable) degeneration in the way we interact, behave and act toward each other.

There is simply no excuse whatsoever for ghosting somebody. Anybody. Ever. Whether in business or personally. It achieves nothing positive and only degrades the person doing it and belittles whoever is on the receiving end of such ignorant and immature behaviour - someone who has taken the time and trouble to create or submit something that the "ghost" has asked for.

If after meeting me you change your mind, or didn't like what I said, didn't like me as an individual, or on checking your budget decide you cant afford my services, or opt to use an alternative provider (if you can find one!), or for any other reason decide against proceeding with me (or whoever has just invested the time to come and see you, spent hours producing documents and reports for you, and wasted effort researching your needs subsequent to your request that they do so) then just have the common decency and GUTS to reply and say so! It's not difficult! It's easy and, moreover, is polite, necessary and professional!

Nobody in the services' sector who provides a product, or who works for themselves and relies on self-generation of legitimate business prospects expects to win 100% of those prospects. And I do not expect to sign an Agreement with everyone I meet. Of course not. But I DO expect to receive the same level of respect and professionalism that I give freely, and DO expect the curtesy of a reply to an email. To just ignore every attempt at a follow-up and a request for an update is inexcusable. It just dilutes your own image and projects a very negative and unprofessional approach to how you operate and treat others. And the image it presents of your business, how it behaves toward its providers and has such little regard for them can only reflect poorly on how your customers regard you.

In the so-called developed "West" and "leading world economies", ghosting has become so endemic that the level of business interaction, genuine networking and healthy working relationships generated through honest direct marketing and one-to-one communication, has been replaced by an impersonal and hostile environment where nobody trusts anyone, business is aggressively competitive, relationships are meaningless, (and as a result far less effective, rewarding or long-lasting) and an absence now of respectful professionalism.

Dear Ghana, please don't fall into the same trap and bad habit. You are better than this and your people traditionally are warm, receptive and professional. Ghosting does not become you and if you allow it to take root and evolve into a common and acceptable way of treating each other, it will be your economy, your business and your reputation that will suffer.

I must add that although not entirely exclusively, the majority of those that choose to be so unprofessional, so ignorant and so rude as to ghost somebody who's time they have wasted, are almost entirely NON-Ghanaian. Yes...Expats! Exactly those that pose as the most experienced, most professional and most essential to the success of Ghana, and charged (or self-appointed!) with a responsibility to bring leadership and progress to this great country are themselves guilty of being the biggest offenders.

Communicate and be professional. Reply to emails and calls. If you're not interested just say so. Stop wasting people's time - theirs is as valuable as yours and they are no less important than you.

What goes around, comes around. Stop Ghosting!

For details on me, DWR, my services, the way I approach my work, and an explanation on the fee structure (still heavily discounted!), please refer to the various articles in the DWR Newsletter, the DWR Executive Group page or my LinkedIn profile.

Or send me a message or an email to arrange a meeting to discuss your needs.

DWR Executive Search - Ghana, Nigeria & West Africa:

Email Dominic: [email protected]

I’m here to help your business, so….LET ME HELP YOU!

DWR Executive and Expatriate Search - Ghana, Nigeria & West Africa offers a bespoke, confidential and personalised service aimed at companies who take their recruitment needs seriously and understand the value of an outsourced provider of professional services.

An Introduction to Dominic Ryan and DWR

The Dynamic Relationship between Recruiter & Client

How Serious are Employers about Recruitment

The 7 Benefits of Outsourcing

Why Exclusivity Search Beats Contingency Recruitment

Ghana Tel: +233 (0) 202 800 466

WhatsApp: +44 (0) 7835 396 349

#Recruitment #WestAfrica #Executives #Expatriate #Talent #TalentSourcing #Headhunter #ExecutiveSearchConsultant #Ghana #Nigeria #hiringmanager #personnel #employer #HR #humanresources #talentacquisition #talentsearch #personnel #hrdirector #findexecutives #DWR #DWRExecutiveSearch #staffingsolutions #staffingandrecruiting #headhunting #recruiter #professionalexecutivesearch #bespokerecruitment #executivesearch #seniorexecutivesearch #expatriaterecruitment #expat #expatriateexecutive